History was made Saturday night at the Midwest Sport Hockey Complex in Queeny Park as the South Grand Slammers defeated the RiverFront Crimes 190 - 92. With the win, the Slammers became the first team to win multiple Turf War Titles!

The game started slow and methodical as neither team notched any points through the first three jams. That quickly changed when Gnat King Kill took the jammer line for the Slammers for the second time. The Slammers defense locked down Debaucherous Prime and allowed Gnat to put up fourteen points to draw first blood. Screech Around put the Crimes on the board on the following jam scoring a point, but Handrail put up two for Slammers making it 16 - 1 in favor of the Slammers. D Mouthful got lead jammer for the Slammers on the next jam, but was then sent off for a track cut. Oodles of Brutal had an opportunity to cut into the lead, but only managed five points before Mouthful re-entered play. Due to Moutfull’s trip to the box the jam went the full two minutes and each jammer scored seven points. Gnat King Kill grabbed nine point on the next jam due to some fancy footwork and excellent defense by the Slammers. The Crimes defense then went to work on Handrail allowing Screech Around to score a quick ten points making the score 32 - 18 Slammers with 17:39 to go in the first half. Thanks to a Slammer jammer penalty and some effective blocking by the Crimes over the next five jams, the Crimes grabbed their first lead of the game at the 13:00 mark with the score 39 - 36. The two teams went tit for tat during the next three jams and the score was 41 - 40 in favor of the Crimes as the sixteenth jam ended with 8:40 on the clock. Unfortunately for the Crimes a track cut call on Debaucherous Prime as the jam ended gave the Slammers the opportunity they needed to jump back into the lead. Gnat King Kill made the most of the opportunity as he put up twenty-tree points to give the Slammers a 63 - 41 lead. The Crimes roared back on the very next jam as Screech Around put ten on the board. The Slammers answered quickly as Mouthfull put fourteen on board immediately thereafter. The next two jams were pretty quiet on the scoring front with a 0 - 0 jam and then a two point jam by the Slammers to make the score 79 - 51 with only a minute and change on the clock. The final jam of the first half was pure pandemonium. Screech Around got out of the pack first to grab lead jammer and then D Mouthfull was sent to the box for a track cut. Screech was then sent to the box for a track cut sending Mouthfull back onto the track, but the Crimes defense would not budge. After the final whistle blow of the first half and the dust settled the score was 79 - 60 in favor of the Slammers.

The first four jams of the second half saw the two teams feeling each other out again as they made changes to try to take control of the game. Back-to-back back-block calls on Prime and Screech allowed the Slammers to extend their lead to 112 - 80 with just over twenty-one minutes to play and then the defenses took over. During the next six jams the Slammers scored only six points and the Crimes managed only eight of their own. The score now stood at 118 - 88 with just over eleven minutes to play. That is when the Slammers went on lock-down. The final nine jams the Slammers defense only allowed four points and their jammers went off scoring fifty-nine points to seal the deal. The night was capped off by a Slammer star-pass from D Mouthfull to Sweet Tooth on the final jam and Sweet Tooth put a fifteen spot on the board as the final whistle blew. The final score was Slammers 190, Crimes 92.

With the win, the Slammers completed the first undefeated season in Turf War history and became the first team to capture two titles. With that said, the Slammers lost a huge part of their team as the Turf War Championship was the last game for Neil Death Experience who announced his retirement just over a week ago. His physical presence will be greatly missed not only by the Slammers, but also by the Travel Team as they begin the stretch run in their quest for that ever-elusive MRDA Title. Good luck Neil!

Scoring (unofficial):

Slammers: Gnat King Kill - 82; Handrail - 47; D Mouthfull - 28; Spin Diesel - 18; Sweet Tooth - 15

Crimes: Screech Around - 44; Debaucherous Prime - 32; Oodles of Brutal - 16

MVPs: Neil Death Experience (Slammers); Oodles of Brutal (Crimes)

There you have it folks! Another Turf War season in the books! Thanks to everyone who attended our bouts and a special thanks to all of the volunteers who make these events possible.

The GateKeepers will be back in action July 19th as the Sioux City Kornstalkers come to town!

See you at the bouts!

Star-Spangled Hammer

(Star-Spangled Hammer is the announcer for the St. Louis GateKeepers!)

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